Expat Investment Advice – Expat Financial Advice

If you’re an expat working outside of the UK, for a short period of time or on a more permanent basis, and looking for high quality, UK standard, expat investment advice and or expat financial advice, contact us today to understand how we can help you to achieve your investment goals and objectives whilst you’re working as an expat, and in preparation for you return back to the UK in the future. If you’ve chosen to retire, outside of the UK, but looking for a UK standard of financial advice (e.g. no commissions, fee-only, genuine independence), talk to us about the investments for expats and expat financial advice services that we offer to British retirees.

Over 10,000 people, like you, have chosen to entrust AES International with their expat investment advice and savings needs. Why is that?

Fee-only – No Commissions – ensuring that we’re working in your best interests at all times

Multi Award Winning – Our peers have judged us as consistently providing a superior level of service – 31 awards and counting

Fully Global – We hold 67 different licences and work with expats all over the world

Fully Independent – We’re not tied to any one provider and we’re not owned by a large corporate

Drop us a line today and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible, normally within 30 minutes during EU business hours. To understand more about the world of expat investment advice and expat financial advice, read on below.

The Expat Investment Landscape

As you’d expect, there are various expat investment options and services available to expats thus the term ‘expat investments’ is a catch-all term that could, potentially, cover everything from basic regular savings plans to multi-generational, cross border, wealth and succession planning services. Expats may include UK domiciles as well as UK non-domiciles. Within AES International, we also advise UK non-domiciles whilst they’re resident in the UK as well as UK residents. Often is the case that non-doms will wish to keep their investment assets outside of the UK. We can provide advice that allows for effective and efficient investment of capital in non UK structures in order that UK non-domiciles may not have to pay tax on these assets whilst they are resident in the UK.

For expats living and working outside of the UK, they will often choose to avail themselves of offshore investment structures in order that they may enjoy current, and future, tax advantages upon return to the UK. However, within AES International we make use of a wide variety of fund structures both onshore and offshore. Whichever structure is used is ultimately guided by the individual requirements of the particular expat investor.

Wider International Financial Planning Issues for Expats

Expats and non UK residents have particular financial planning needs which must be addressed in order that they may be provided with the best financial advice service. The international financial services market place, as indeed the UK financial services market place in the past, has been characterised by the ultimate end goal of the sale of a product. Products are, of course, a necessary feature of a wider holistic financial planning strategy, however, good quality expat financial advice is about much more than simply selling products.

Offshore Bonds – Popular Among Expats, are They a Good Option?

Offshore investment bonds can be an excellent investment vehicle for those both living and working outside of the UK permanently and for those who, at some point in the future, will return to the UK thus they are a popular expat investment option. The reason for this is that offshore bonds maintain particular taxation characteristics that can function as effective tax planning tools, especially for higher net worth individuals, resident in the UK, and indeed for those resident outside of the UK.

UK residency does, however, provide for particular application of these tax advantages. This article doesn’t have the scope to go into the finer detail of how these tax advantages work, however, for a fee-free discussion as to how AES International could help you with understanding how an offshore bond could add value to your expat financial planning strategy, contact us today.

One has to exercise some caution, when it relates to purchasing offshore bonds, as the vast majority of international financial advisers will set these bonds up on a commission basis. The issue with this is that the bond company will pay a commission to the adviser, up-front on day one, and then nothing thereafter. Therefore, there is a disconnect between the ongoing advice that you’ll need with the investment bond, and the motivation for the adviser to look after you properly in the future. We are of the firm opinion that investment bonds, whilst can be a very effective financial planning and investment tool, must only ever be set up on a fee-only basis. This means that the adviser charges a fee, for ongoing advice, rather than collecting a large upfront commission from when the bond is first set up. With the fee-only option, as the client you only pay a fee for as long as you continue to be happy with what your adviser is doing for you.

Pensions Advice including UK Pension Transfer to QROPS, International SIPPs

Needless to mention that a significant element of the expat financial planning equation is that of effective pension management. Unfortunately this is an area of advice, provided to expats in the past, that has fallen short of what would be considered reasonable client expectations for performance, costs and overall efficiency. It is our view that the key reason for the deficit between expectations and results comes down to the manner in which the adviser was remunerated and thus bias that would have arose at advice stage. It is for this reason that we always recommend that anyone considered transferring their UK pension to QROPS, transferring a UK pension to a SIPP, or indeed simply those that are looking for effective management of pension funds already accumulated, should only ever seek advice from a fee based adviser. If at all possible a fee based Chartered Financial planner specialising in expat financial advice.

Work With The Best

We are absolutely aware that there are literally thousands of different firms that you could consider working with in addressing your expat financial advice needs. So, why would you choose to work with AES International? Aside from the five points listed above, we’ve been recognised by not only our own clients as providing a superior level of service and ultimate client outcomes, but then also by our industry peers. Talk to us today about how we can help you.